Miniature Gaming

[Cat]

Back home from a fun long weekend of gaming at TotalCon here in Massachusetts.  I ran a couple of sessions of Wacky Max 1968 (Wacky Races meets Mad Max using the Maximillian 1934 rules from Mana Press https://manapress.com.au/pages/maximillian).

I've been working on modifying the 1/72-ish model cars that come in the Wacky Races board game by CMON.  Adding weapons and upgrading the tires and crew figures.  I've finished 4 of the modified vehicles so far, plus long-bed options for the Boulder Mobile and the Buzz Wagon, and using stock vehicles from the board game in the meanwhile for the others.  Pandora Pitstop in the purple Compact Ground Rattler is Penelope's twin sister introduced in the re-booted series on Boomerang, they have sibling issues.
 

Edited February 24, 2020 by Cat

[Cat]

Also ran several sessions of the classic board game Ogre by Steve Jackson Games.  This was the very first Microgame from 1977, originally sold in a little zip lock bag with a sheet of tiny cardboard counters that you cut apart to play on a small paper map.  The game is still going strong with much fancier formats available now.  I prefer playing on the new neoprene gaming mats and using 1/285 plastic miniatures instead of cardboard counters.
 

[cteno4]

Oh man shades of college! A couple of friends were big into the very early micro games. They use to play for long times in the cafeteria at the student union. I’d pop on the head sets to the ultra new Walkman and read a book and watch then have fun! I wasn’t a big gamer but enjoyed their comradery.

 

jeff

[chadbag]

One of these days I'll raid e-Bay for ASL stuff (Advanced Squad Leader).  I have the rules and the YANKs and one or two more modules but there is much more.  I have not actually played much ASL but I did play a ton of classic SL when I was a teenager.  Somewhere I have 2 full SL games plus COI, COD, GI: AOV, though everything is mixed up now.

 

I've a bunch of other Avalon Hill games, a little SPI, and some other stuff.  Most not looked upon since I was a teenager, but will come out again once we have moved and I get my board game room with shelves to actually unpack from moving boxes from long ago.

 

 

[katoftw]

I probably have a box of Warhammer 40K squashed up the back corner of the garage.  Those space marines would've seen better days.

[Cat]

The topic of Girls Und Panzer miniature gaming with 1/100 models came up in another thread.  Here's a couple of links to info on that.

 

Twig worked out the bulk of the home brew rules for and started posting photos on The Miniatures Page.  I jumped in and we did a lot collaboratively to polish them up.  I'm half way through translating the rules from our short hand crib sheets into an actual English language version that others could use.  Hope to get back to that in the nearish future.  Twig does most of his gaming at home, I do most of mine at a local hobby store and regional gaming conventions.  When next we gamers can gather for live gaming, I want to get these rules and minis back on the table!

The big GuP thread on TMP is here (I post under MiniMo): 
http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=393895&page=1

I've put a lot of my own GuP work up on my gaming blog, somewhat neglected gaming blog as I tend to spend more time at home modelling than blogging:
https://goblinhall.com/category/girls-und-panzer/

 

Since my last blog entry, I did complete a lot more work on modelling and painting crew figures for all the schools' teams.  The photos I took of them at a convention didn't come out too great.  At some point, I'll pull them out for another photo shoot.

Here are the Oarai tanks, with Miho as the first figure completed.  All of these tanks have their own crew now, with tiny magnets so they can pop onto the hatches when they're unbuttoned:


 

[nah00]

Gale Force Nine did a stand-alone Tanks game using the newer plastic minis from Flames of War. It's a skirmish game with only a few units per side and always thought it would be great for GuP battles. Plus Pravda's paint scheme is REALLY simple, same for most of the other schools. I have a few of them that I never got around to building/painting, depending on when we get off voluntary house arrest I may actually get to assembling some of them. I have some Zvezda 1/100 tanks I've put together real fast that I could get around to painting too, I have an M3 and I think 2 Matildas. 

 

On 2/24/2020 at 6:15 PM, katoftw said:

I probably have a box of Warhammer 40K squashed up the back corner of the garage.  Those space marines would've seen better days.

 

While sorting through my boxes of 'to do' models I did find a 'Start Collecting' box for Deathwatch and an Imperial Guard infantry squad. I remember buying the Deathwatch guys but have no recollection of buying the Imperial Guard guys. 

[Cat]

An early draft of Twig's rules and stats can be found here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxiKebhaxRomQXQyVGg1SmU1c3c/view
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxiKebhaxRomVlZlUmd5Ny02STg/view

There haven't been major changes, some polishing up and a few tweaks.   When my brain isn't so immersed in planning the Ibaraki Shorty layout, I will get back to finishing the polished up version.  The real fun with these rules compared to a generic tank skirmish game is that they are really designed to capture the flavour of the show.  Loading times are critical and give lighter tanks a good fighting edge with faster rate of fire.

 

[Cat]

Two weeks ago would have been the Huzzah miniatures gaming convention in Portland Maine, which is definitely the highlight of the New England convention circuit.

We did go online then to fulfill our primary shopping goal that had been planned for the convention  — ordering the new 1/56 Border Reivers buildings from our favourite local laser cutting business, Things From The Basement.  Roxanne & I had both joined in with the consultations on designing these to get the correct period architecture, and have really been looking forward to getting the actual kits from Joerg.

As a really nice touch, he included laser cut teddy bear fur pieces for the cottages' thatched roofs!*  It's a superb material for the job; glue on, brush out with diluted PVA, let dry, trim the edge.

 

This project had been commissioned by the Maine Historical Gamers club for a big invitational game they were going to host at the con.  They, and other clubs all around the region, were painting 28mm figures to bring to the game.  Next year, the hot trod is on!

They hadn't requested a pele tower for their game commission, really hoping Joerg does one at some point.

https://www.thingsfromthebasement.com/store/c46/Border_Reivers_-_The_Greit_Cursing.html

 

* No actual teddy bears were harmed in making these roofing pieces.

 

 

Edited May 27, 2020 by Cat

[gavino200]

On 4/10/2020 at 12:21 PM, Cat said:

An early draft of Twig's rules and stats can be found here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxiKebhaxRomQXQyVGg1SmU1c3c/view
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxiKebhaxRomVlZlUmd5Ny02STg/view

There haven't been major changes, some polishing up and a few tweaks.   When my brain isn't so immersed in planning the Ibaraki Shorty layout, I will get back to finishing the polished up version.  The real fun with these rules compared to a generic tank skirmish game is that they are really designed to capture the flavour of the show.  Loading times are critical and give lighter tanks a good fighting edge with faster rate of fire.

 

 

Those rules look really complicated. But how does it all work. Do you though dice or something, to decide what happens when you make a move?

[Cat]

2 hours ago, gavino200 said:

 

Those rules look really complicated. But how does it all work. Do you though dice or something, to decide what happens when you make a move?

It's a relatively light set of rules, by miniature gaming standards.  Seems more complicated than that because in grand home-brewed rules tradition, Twig's early drafts are really in outline form, and it helps to have a gamemaster who knows what's going on.  I had to get a few clarifications from Twig before I could really start running games.  I have the fuller written version with much more English language applied in progress.

There is dicing involved.  At the start of the turn, players dice for initiative.  The team with the initiative can choose to move first or second and also have the last move.  Teams take turns moving inidvidual tanks or formations.  Players just choose how far they wish to move, up to the limit for each type of tank.  Stationary tanks may interrupt an opponent's move to take a snapshot, but at a dice penalty to hit.  Otherwise, after all tanks have moved, then normal shooting commences.  Shooting starts with the team that won the initiative and alternates between teams: the tanks with the Best Loader crew member shirt first, then all the tanks with Light Guns, then Medium, etc., and the tanks with the Worst Loader crew member shoot last.

The dice roll to hit a target is determined by caliber of gun compared to thickness of armour, with the dice roll modified for range and a few other factors.

The show really stresses how important loading times are.  Lighter shells are easier to load and thus generally fire first.  This gives teams with lighter tanks a reasonable fighting chance against teams with heavier tanks if they can maneuver well to establish good positions.

 

Lots of maneuvering into position going on in this battle from Huzzah 2017:

 

Edited May 28, 2020 by Cat

[Cat]

One of my big projects has been modelling the set of Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow (1999) to use for gaming in 1/56 scale.  I've been using it for skirmish games set in the French & Indian War, with a good touch of period gothic horror elements.  Sleepy Hollow was haunted long before the Hessian lost his head in the Revolutionary War.  Also note that there were continental officers serving in the British 60th Royal American Regiment, so there is always an opportunity for premature Hessian head loss events.

Local gaming friends are releasing a new colonial gothic skirmish game shortly, Devil In The Wilderness.  That got me to put Sleepy Hollow back on the workbench.  One of the models that I had finished still needed one more detail to level up its screen accuracy.  The basic kits that I've used for this project are laser-cut kits designed and produced by Things From The Basement.  I worked closely with Joerg on the design process.  He did the kits as pretty straight forward buildings that could be used for a variety of historical periods and genres.  The hyper detail modelling to get them screen accurate was left as an exercise for the crazed fanatic.

When I built the Van Allen House, I just used the straight normal chimney as provided.  It was enough of a challenge putting the characteristic improbable sag in the roof, and I was on a time deadline gearing up for a big convention game, with lots of models, figures, and scenery to prepare.  To really polish it up, I needed to flare out the base of the chimney.

Started by steeling my nerves to cut holes in the finished roof to make slots where the new chimney wings would fit. Made the new wings out of sheet styrene, and carved the brick courses to match those on the main chimney. Painted these to match the existing brickwork, glued in place, puttied the joints, and blended in the painting and weathering.
 

Edited August 21, 2020 by Cat

[Cat]

Here's the front of the Van Allen house.  We never get to see behind the little picket fence in the movie, so I decided to put in an herb garden:

[Kiha66]

Woah, that looks amazing!  The sagging roof is so cool, that must have been very tricky to get right!

[Cat]

It took some highly advanced clamp-fu.  The major work was gluing and clamping the roof panels to the frame work.  After that had dried thoroughly, then I was able to glue and clamp the sagged peak together.  The black spreader bar clamps aren't holding any glued surfaces together, they are positioned to hold smaller clamps in place to keep them from sproinging off into space.  The small green clamp hanging from the top spreader is holding the small red clamp in place below it!

Buckets of cheap clamps from Harbor Freight are a lifestyle choice.
: 3

Edited August 21, 2020 by Cat

[Cat]

The Covered Bridge was the first model of course, and my learning on sagged roofs and going for screen accuracy.  It is also geologically accurate — the rocks along the water's edge are pebbles gathered from the Pocantico River when we spent a couple of days in Sleepy Hollow on a foliage recon tour and holiday celebrations over Halloween 2017.

Edited August 21, 2020 by Cat

[Martijn Meerts]

I love that movie, but last I saw it was quite a while ago again.. Need to watch it again 🙂

 

[Cat]

Sleepy Hollow is brilliant!  The script does an amazing job of inverting all the elements of the original story.  For bonus points the beginning and end stylistically invert the Hammer vampire movies that inspired the whole movie's vibe (Christopher Lee on the side of good, and the Horseman's head reconstructing in the finale).  Rick Heinrich so completely deserved the Academy Award he won for production design.  I hope I might meet him someday so I can go all fan-girl and gush over how much he earned that award!

My Halloween horror movie festival usually runs from the day after Labor Day to just before New Year's Eve.  This year, I had to start early, so opened it up two nights ago with this one; and as always picking out a few modelling details.

The other building I had completed earlier was the Livery Stable.  They had to work really hard to build that piece to sway and sag as it did, no gambrel roof with a side wing could ever do that naturally.  This was a super fun challenge to model.  As a gaming piece, the roof pieces lift off to allow access to the inside to allow playing a violent game of dolls with miniature figures.  The separation points all happen right at the most complex sags and sways!

I also greatly admire the weathering job they did on the original set.  With all the behind the scenes footage, I've been able to do screen-accurate weathering.
: 3
 

[Martijn Meerts]

I really love the general feel of the whole movie, and all the sets are just amazing. Shortly after the movie came out I started 3D modelling several of the buildings just for fun,so I actually did quite a lot of research into things, and taking lots of screenshots from the movie etc. Like with so many of my projects though, I never finished anything (it also didn't help that I was adding too much detail for my computer to handle at the time 😄 )

 

[Cat]

4 hours ago, Martijn Meerts said:

Shortly after the movie came out I started 3D modelling several of the buildings just for fun,so I actually did quite a lot of research into things, and taking lots of screenshots from the movie etc. Like with so many of my projects though, I never finished anything (it also didn't help that I was adding too much detail for my computer to handle at the time 😄 )

 

 

Did you put any of the renders online?  I’ve come across some that have been helpful in my modelling, wondering if they might have been your work!

 

Next in my seasonal viewing, while not actually in the horror genre, does feature brigands who have made a pact with the devil and has a great period setting.  Dutch TV miniseries, De Legende Van De Bokkerijder.  I bring the bokkerijders into my Sleepy Hollow games on the premise that some fugitives have fled to the Dutch communities in the Hudson Valley.

[cteno4]

And now martijn has a 3d printer! 
 

jeff

[Martijn Meerts]

I don't think I ever put any of them online no.. I didn't get all that far with them either actually. The idea was to do the whole town, but I have too many interests and I can almost never stick to a single project to the point where I can finish it. With model trains it's easy enough to let it sit for a couple of years and then pick it up again, but with 3D modelling, there's a fair chance the techniques have been improved, and some things you did on a model can be done a lot more efficient.

 

Of course, all the 3D modelling I did does help with the 3D printer now. I've used Maya quite a lot (and before that 3DS Max, en 3DS for DOS ;)), but I've been trying to get the hang of Blender now. Obviously because it's free, but also because I can export to a format that the 3D printer software can handle. I can even do the supports in Blender instead of Chitubox for example.

 

Not done much experimenting anymore with the printer, been too hot to run it, but holidays coming up soon, so I'll be getting back to test printing some stuff.

[Cat]

When Joerg was working on the laser cut designs, I had sent him a link to batch of 3D artistic renders of many of the buildings (not printable designs) from a website that's gone away, Cornucopia3D.  Without a working link, I'm not sure who the artist was.  Those renders had some minor bits wrong, but were a big help.

I've recently come across another batch that somehow my google-fu had missed in 2017; this is a more limited set of somebody else's unfinished project and very well done:  https://blenderartists.org/t/tim-burtons-sleepy-hollow/585856

Sometime in the coming months, I'll ask Joerg, who did the laser cut designs I'm working from, if he would like to do a few more.  And the next ones I would like to add are luckily in the set linked above: Dr. Lancaster's House, the Killian House, the Watermill, and even the small poultry shed.  Also on my wishlist is the big Windmill.

And Martijn, if you could have a word with The Netherlands please on maybe publishing more info on the bokkenrijders in other languages, that would be a terrific help! 
: 3

The acting and the staging of the TV series makes it pretty easy to follow the plot, but there are no subtitles on the DVD, grr.  The Suske en Wiske volume on De Bokkerijders was at least translated into French — I've got both copies so I can read the French and triangulate into picking up some Dutch; it's a fun comic.  Other publications on the topic, including a new book that just came out this year never appear in any other language: https://www.landvanherle.nl/2020/06/joseph-kirchhoff-kapitein-van-de-bokkerijders-door-rob-hamers/

I like learning new languages, but am currently busy on Japanese....

[Martijn Meerts]

These renders are definitely not mine, they're too new and too finished 😄 

 

I was also going to do interiors and everything as well. When I start modelling these buildings, things like bump mapping wasn't that advanced yet, so to get a good looking stone wall meant you had to more or less model the stones themselves. These days you can create a couple of textures and once rendered you get the correct looks.

 

The Suske en Wiske comics are all translated into French, because they're Belgian comics, not Dutch. But Suske en Wiske in general are actually quite fun in general, and the historical stories are always pretty cool and at least somewhat correct. I'm guessing the Bokkerijders aren't popular enough outside the Netherlands and Belgium to warrant any sort of translations. There's also still the whole discussion going on if they even existed in the first place.

 

 

[Welshbloke]

I've never played, but I did build some 40k Salamanders a while ago:

 

Still a few more to paint, including a Razorback APC which has gained a set of 3d printed heavy flamers for its turret. The Salamanders love fire, hence the meltas on the Land Speeder and bike sidecar.